13 June 2008
Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum
The Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, will today join Ministerial colleagues led by Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and forty senior Australian business representatives at the 2008 Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF) in Wellington, New Zealand.
Created in 2004, the forum is designed to deepen trans-Tasman links and consider broad strategic issues of domestic and international significance. Chaired by the private sector, it is held alternately in Australia and New Zealand.
In 2008, Mr Rod McGeoch (Chairman of Sky City Entertainment Group Limited), and Mr John Allen (Chief Executive, NZ Post) are the co-chairs.
During the forum, Mr Crean will join with his New Zealand counterpart, Mr Phil Goff, in a joint session that will consider the trade policy outlook facing Australia and New Zealand.
“The Australian Ministerial line-up attending the 2008 Forum is significantly stronger than in previous years,” Mr Crean said.
“This underscores the importance the Australian Government places on the trans-Tasman relationship. It also provides an opportunity for New Zealand business and government leaders to become acquainted with the new Australian Government.”
On a bilateral front, Mr Crean and Mr Goff will lay the platform for the annual Closer Economic Relations Ministerial Meeting, which will take place in Sydney in July.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the CER, which has been recognised by the WTO as a free trade agreement of the highest quality. As a mark of how successful the agreement has been for both nations, trans-Tasman trade has grown at an average rate of 9 per cent a year since the signing of the deal.
On the regional front, Mr Crean will use meetings with both Prime Minister Helen Clark and Trade Minister Goff to emphasise the importance of working together in regional fora, including APEC and the East Asia Summit.
Both Mr Crean and Mr Goff attended the APEC Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Peru at the end of May, where there was a commitment to addressing regional economic integration – an issue that is central to the reform agenda of both countries.
This session also comes at a crucial time in the WTO Doha Round negotiations, with senior officials intensifying their negotiations in Geneva this week.
Other members of the Australian Ministerial delegation include the Attorney-General Mr Robert McClelland, the Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Mr Lindsay Tanner, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Mr Anthony Albanese, the Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, Senator Nick Sherry and the Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Mr Duncan Kerr SC.
Media Inquiries: Mr Crean's office 02 6277 7420 - Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555